Friday, March 9, 2012

Slice of Life #9 - To Read Or Not To Read

We have noticed lately that Jordan will keep doing something after we ask him to stop multiple times. It's nothing serious, things like he uses such a loud voice when we are inside and sitting right next to him, or he sings goofy songs and just keeps singing and singing even when we ask him to be quiet because we're on the phone or just trying to talk to each other. And now he's starting to do the same thing at preschool. He keeps acting silly or keeps trying to make kids laugh and be funny.

When he had a bad listening day earlier this week, we came home and talked about it and tried to explain to him that we were disappointed in his choice to not listen at school. And then today he had another day of not listening or following directions but this time it was way worse than the other day. The teacher actually wrote a numbered list of all the times he wasn't listening. Dude, a numbered list is serious.

I told him that we would all sit and talk about what his punishment would be after dinner. While we were cleaning up dinner, Jordan had to sit on the stairs and think about what would be a fair punishment. He actually came up with not being able to play Legos for the rest of the night. It was a good start, but we thought he shouldn't be able to play with Legos, any other toys, plus no TV or iPad. He was very upset and cried at first, but then his entire attitude changed and everything the rest of the nice was very polite and thoughtful.

I have absolutely no idea if we were right in our reaction to his behavior - I guess the true test will be if he can make good choices about listening to his teacher tomorrow at school. The whole time, I was never sure if what we were doing was right or not. He's only a little kid but I can tell he was really trying to see how much he could get away with. I wish we didn't have to lay down the law but I know it's going to be better that we teach him now rather than wait until later.

Here's my biggest stress - if we take away all his toys and technology, do we still read aloud to him? I mean, obviously he was upset by having his other things taken away but he loves his books just as much. Tonight it was okay for him to read books. He sat and read to himself for a while and then we did read aloud before bed. I don't think I could ever take away read aloud because it's important but at the same time, are we sending the message that books are boring so it's okay for him to still read books when we have taken away everything else that is "fun"? Or are we giving him something fun in reading aloud when we are trying to take everything fun away? But how could I not read to him before bed?

If he could just decide to listen at school, it would make my life a whole lot easier. Sheesh.